140 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
February 14, 1903. 
REVIEWS of BOOKS. 
Review copies of Books pertaining to the Garden should be sent as early 
as possible to The Editor, “ G. W.,” 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London. 
“The Natural History of Plants.” x 
The re-issue of this work has reached page 128 of the second 
volume, and continues as interesting as ever. The book deals 
so fully with the history of plants that it takes in fungi, algae, 
mosses, and other low organisms. Much of this would, natur¬ 
ally, only be interesting to those who make a speciality of such 
low forms of plant life ; but the value of the book lies in the fact 
that it deals with all branches of the science, so that no one 
could pick up the book without finding something of interest to 
him in any particular branch in which he may have specialised. 
Those gardeners who have studied the science or technicalities 
of their profession for a number of years will find many things 
of which they have read before ; but it is equally certain that 
they will here pick up information on a great variety of topics 
which have not yet found their way into botanical books gener¬ 
ally obtainable or available to the craft. For instance, those 
who have been studying the subject of propagation will find a 
much larger number of instances given in this work that would 
prove interesting and useful. 
For gardening in general it might serve no useful purpose to 
go deeply into the various questions here dealt with, but when 
one begins to specialise he will find such a work as this both in¬ 
structive and suggestive. The chapter dealing with buds on 
roots mentions a large number of trees which the average 
gardener would not suspect of producing young plants on the 
roots. Some of them are induced to behave in this manner when 
they have been accidentally or intentionally cut with a knife or 
spade. Such hints might prove useful to those who wish to 
propagate any particular kind of tree mentioned. 
At the same time it is noteworthy that many trees and 
herbaceous plants may be-propagated by cutting the fleshy roots 
and placing them under certain conditions congenial to the pro¬ 
duction of roots and buds by the same. Gardeners who make a 
speciality of propagation would do well to jot down memoranda 
concerning all manner of plants which may be propagated in this 
way, either by natural or artificial means. During the course of 
a lifetime they could thus jot down a vast amount of information 
that could not fail to be of service to them and others in after 
years. 
Another chapter deals with the production of buds on stems, 
which will not be so uncommon a subject as that of buds on 
roots for the simple reason that stems and their productions 
are more directly under the eye ; but at the same time it is only 
the observant who note these facts. Th^re are some instances, 
however, nqt readily observable and which a book of this char¬ 
acter serves to call to memory, and, what is more, serves to 
educate the observer to distinguish between roots and stems. At 
first sight this might not seem very difficult to do, but plants 
undergo so many curious modifications that it requires a con¬ 
siderable amount of study in order to determine what really con¬ 
stitutes a stem and what constitutes a root. 
In gardening there is often a large amount of loose descrip¬ 
tion concerning plants and their various parts. There is no 
reason, however, why the careful student or observer should nit 
learn to observe correctly and to write exactly on these matters. 
The question of plurality of buds from the axils of a leaf may 
be considered of little importance ; the gardener, however, is well 
acquainted with this fact in Peaches. Some have also noted a 
similar occurrence in various other plants. The value of dupli¬ 
cate buds lies in the fact that one usually develops in advance 
of the other, and if that should get injured or killed by late 
frosts there is always a reserve bud to'fall back upon, so that 
the damage done to the plant is only of secondary importance. 
In a state of nature we can imagine these buds to be of great 
importance to plants which happen to get injured by frosts, or 
even during very droughty times. 
The occurrence of buds on the leaves of plants is generally of 
more interest to gardeners, and they frequently utilise them to 
full advantage in propagating plants. A considerable number of 
them are indicated here, including some with which gardeners 
are familiar, and several others that are by no means ^common. 
Although most common on hothouse plants, buds on leaves of 
hardy plants are not by any means uncommon. On the leaves 
of Cardamine pratensis little plants may often be found if looked 
for, especially on plants situated under moist conditions. In 
garden practice this is of the utmost value in the case of double 
:: The Natural History of Pla- ts.Kerner and Oliver. 
London, Glasgow, and Dublin.) Part 8, price Is. 6d. net. 
(Blackie and Son, Ltd., 
varieties, which can be rapidly propagated by this means alone. 
All that is necessary is to place the plant in a moist, somewhat 
shady and cool frame. During the course of the summer buds 
or miniature plants may be observed on the upper surfaces of 
the leaves, and if the latter are pegged down into the soil the 
young plants will be large enough to bloom next spring. A 
large number of instances of buds growing upon leaves are given 
in this number of the book, and the illustrations are fairly 
numerous. 
The parts of the flower, but more particularly the fruit of 
plants, are usually very much modified, and so disguised that 
the ordinary observer is liable to be puzzled as to the e-xa.t 
origin of certain parts. The illustrations here given on various 
fruits are well worthy of close study, as they cannot fail to give 
an insight into the methods of Nature in evolving complicated 
fruits from simple beginnings. Many of the illustrations are 
very interesting, and serve to demonstrate the theory that the 
carpels or seed vessels are simply ordinary foliage leaves modi¬ 
fied. Some illustrations of chloranthy occurring in Delphinum 
cashmirianum serve to show the actual forming of leaves with 
buds developing from their margins, representing ovules or seeds 
previous to fertilisation. Another figure shows even greater 
reversion, for some of the parts of the flower have developed 
into small green leaves. 
A chapter is devoted to the discussion of the various con¬ 
trivances for the protection of pollen, and some illustrations 
show clearly what is meant, b} r the descriptions, so that we need 
not here enter into details, but recommend readers to see and 
read the book for themselves. It is practically a little library 
of itself on botanical matters. 
“ All About Sweet Peas.” # 
This little pamphlet extends to sixty-two pages, and is now- 
passing through its second edition. It commences with a sort, 
of prologue describing the value of Sweet Peas for various 
purposes, how to grow them, and giving a brief history of them, 
which will no doubt prove valuable to beginners, whether 
amateurs or otherwise. In our recollection, however. Sweet 
Peas were not reckoned difficult to grow previous to the time 
when they became poprrlar. They were, in fact, amongst the 
most accommodating of annuals, but possibly a considerable 
amount of our experience was gained where the climate favours 
the cultivator. All the same, cultivation is easy if the seeds are 
not too often sown on the same ground. The description of all 
the known varieties will prove serviceable to those concerned. 
The collecting together of all the information must have cost 
the writer a good deal of trouble, but Mr. Sydenham does not 
spare himself in the matter of work when he has set himself r 
do something. His book includes a classification made up by 
the National Sweet Pea Society. He also gives a classification 
drawn up from the notes of thirty-three gentlemen who w-ere 
asked to vote as to the best varieties ; this classification differs 
to some extent, he admits, from that of the National Sweet Pea 
Society, and says that it demonstrates what a difference of 
opinion there is. 
This will always be the case. We cannot all see alike, feel 
alike, think alike, and fancy alike, so that a, classification made 
up by any man or number of men will always be liable to modi¬ 
fication by others who think differently on that subject. Classi¬ 
fications that are conscientiously done serve a useful purpose, 
however, as a guide to those who have not given the subject con¬ 
sideration, nor had the opportunity of doing so. The profits of 
this little book are intended to benefit the Gardeners’ Rovai 
Benevolent Institution, so that gardening friends would do well 
to bear this in mind. 
Scarcity of Pears in the London Markets. 
Just before Christmas it was very generally remarked that 
dessert, Pears were uncommonly scarce in the' London markets. 
The growers of this country have been neglecting the cultivation 
of this product of the orchard, which from an economical point of 
view is to be deplored. We hope, therefore, that this deficit will 
be rectified in the near future. 
* “All About Sweet Peas," by Mr. Robert Sydenham, with a useful description 
of every known variety, and How to Grow Them. (Tenby Street, Birmingham. 
Price 6d. 
